News & Brews October 17, 2024
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Harris, Fox News clash from Pa.
Yesterday, VP Kamala Harris sat down for her first real interview with a media outlet that’s not also an adoring fan, taking questions from Fox News’ Bret Baier following an event in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Some say Baier ‘ambushed’ Harris, who showed up late for the interview. Some say Harris was unable to answer even the most basic questions that her campaign should have anticipated. You can watch the full interview here.
Allegheny counts mail-in ballots faster than Philly
Not that it’s a race, but if it were, Steelers country would be beating Eagles country when it comes to counting mail-in ballots. Votebeat examined how differences in equipment are likely the reason that “Allegheny County is much faster at processing mail ballots than Philadelphia.” In fact, “Public records show Philadelphia already has equipment that can open ballot envelopes much more quickly than its current equipment. Yet — until Wednesday, less than a month before the election — it was unclear if the city commissioners who make election decisions planned to use faster machines.” But after the Votebeat story was published, “That changed … when the board agreed during a public meeting to move forward with using both types of machines on Nov. 5.”
Election integrity group sues Montgomery County
Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE), whose work “protects democratically enacted election laws from attack and abuse by partisan actors and officials working to threaten or dilute the right of qualified citizens to vote,” has filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners for “failing to follow state law when debuting its voter services van.” Per RITE, “Pennsylvania law requires counties to post notices of the exact times and locations of their voter registration efforts at both the county’s main office and the location where it will be registering voters.” MontCo’s Voter Services Mobile Satellite Office goes around the county “to serve as a location where residents can register to vote, request absentee ballots, and drop off absentee ballots all in one place, at one time…. But the county has so far failed to comply with legal requirements that prohibit counties from conducting registration activities at unannounced locations.”
TMI owner is 99.9% sure plant will reopen
PennLive reports that Three Mile Island Unit One’s owner, Constellation Energy, is “99.99 percent” certain that the $1.6 billion reopening of the plant “will happen, and it will happen on schedule and budget.” The story continues, “Constellation has targeted the reopening for 2028. The company announced last month that it has struck a purchase agreement with Microsoft to buy the equivalent of all the new power the restarted reactor will generate for 20 years.”
Luzerne County settles ballot paper shortage lawsuit
Remember back in 2022 when Luzerne County ran out of ballot paper on Election Day, bringing some voting to a stop and leading a judge to extend voting hours? Well, the AP reports that the county has “settled a lawsuit by agreeing to ensure sufficient paper will be ordered for future elections.” The federal lawsuit had alleged that “the chaos on Election Day was entirely preventable and predictable” and stemmed at least partly from insufficient training. Per the story, “The county will pay $30,000 for litigation expenses and will train election workers, including on the topic of ordering sufficient paper.” And there you have it.